Stars and Stripes
April 6, 2023

US Army’s new weapons depot in Poland is largest NATO facility buy in decades

A sprawling U.S. Army weapons depot in central Poland opened this week, giving NATO allies a readily accessible site with thousands of pieces of armor and other equipment that can be mobilized in a crisis.

In Powidz, a logistics hub that has become central to U.S. military efforts on the alliance’s eastern flank, a project six years in the making came to fruition Wednesday as top U.S. and Polish officials lauded the strategic impact of the site.

“There will be seven gigantic warehouses stationed here on Polish soil full of heavy equipment, over 2,700 pieces from tanks to Bradley (Fighting) Vehicles, all of it belonging to the U.S. armored brigade combat team,” Mark Brzezinski, the U.S. ambassador to Poland, said during an opening ceremony.

***

The $360 million facility, which was funded by NATO, is the largest single infrastructure investment for the alliance in 30 years, the Army said.

The opening of the weapons depot follows the recent establishment of the first permanent U.S. garrison in Poland in the west-central city of Poznan, which serves as a forward headquarters for the Army’s V Corps.

In recent years, Washington and Warsaw have invested heavily in a network of sites used by American forces in Poland….